The Sith Empire
In the aftermath of the Great Hyperspace War of 5000 BBY, the remnants of the original Sith Empire established a new Sith Empire in the galaxy's Unknown Regions. This Empire, also known as the True Sith sect, was created after Sith survivors of Dark Lord of the Sith Naga Sadow's disastrous campaign against the Galactic Republic fled known space to escape persecution by the Republic and its Jedi Order. Led by the Sith Lord Vitiate, the refugees wandered aimlessly through space in search of a new home. Twenty years after their departure from the original Empire's territory, the Sith discovered the forgotten world of Dromund Kaas and settled it to begin the process of rebuilding. During the rebuilding process, Vitiate proclaimed himself to be the Dark Lord of his order and Emperor of his people. Under the care of the Emperor and his Dark Council of Sith Lords, the Empire established its capital of Kaas City and began building a mighty war machine, with the intent of eventually returning to combat with the Galactic Republic once more. The Empire worked towards that goal for over one thousand years, gradually expanding and gaining more power and influence. During that time, the Sith were discovered by Jedi Knights Revan and Malak, who were forcibly turned to the dark side of the Force by the Emperor and became Sith. Although they were sent back to serve as the vanguards of the Empire's eventual invasion, they broke free from his conditioning and formed concurrently their own Sith Empire, but the Republic defeated the two and their remnant, and knowledge of the Empire remained hidden. Around three hundred years later, the Sith Empire—still under the command of Vitiate —was ready to return to the greater galaxy. After covertly installing puppet governments on Republic worlds across the Outer Rim Territories, the Sith invaded Republic space in an onslaught of unrivaled proportions. After capturing and securing much of the Outer Rim in the early stages of what would become known as the Great Galactic War, the Sith Emperor began preparing for the push towards the Republic's bastion in the Galactic Core. Despite several setbacks in its campaign towards the core, the Empire surged forward once more, crippling the Republic economy through an alliance with the Mandalorian warrior clans. However the blockade was eventually broken by Hylo Visz, and reinforcements from the Republic which brought the war into another stalemate. After nearly 3 decades of fighting, the Empire surprised the galaxy when the Dark Council extended an offer of peace to the Republic. Desperate, the Republic senate accepted, but during peace talks on Alderaan, the Empire launched a sneak attack on the Republic capital of Coruscant. The attack was a rousing success for the Empire, allowing the Sith to force the Republic to sign their draft of the document that would end the war, the Treaty of Coruscant. With the war at an end and the Empire stronger than ever, the Emperor retreated from the public view and passed responsibilities of the day-to-day maintenance of the Empire to the Dark Council. As a result of the Empire's co-existence with the Republic, an interstellar Cold War emerged in the immediate aftermath of the Great War, during which time the Empire engaged in proxy battles and small conflicts with the Republic and its allies. When war did start up again, the Empire started to suffer catastrophic defeats that ranged from losing members of its leadership, including the Sith Emperor himself. Additionally, the Empire began to weaken even further due to infighting and internal struggles between power-crazed Sith Lords. It soon became just as vulnerable and desperate as the Republic it was fighting. The infighting was the turning point for the Empire when Darth Marr assumed leadership. With the help of the their most powerful allies, he was able to stabilize the Empire. Marr ensured a bright future and even organized an alliance with the Republic in dealing with threats such as Revan and Vitiate. The Emperor's Wrath was tasked with preserving the Empire and led the Empire's forces in the battle against Darth Malgus and the Dread Masters alongside Darth Marr. By 3636 BBY, the Eternal Empire invaded the rest of the galaxy, defeating both the Sith and Republic and establishing political, military, and economic control over both superpowers, effectively turning them both into rump states. During the conflict, many of the remaining members of the Dark Council were killed or otherwise disappeared under mysterious circumstances, except for one: Darth Acina. The sudden disappearance of her rivals, such as Darth Nox and the Empire's Wrath, allowed her to seize complete control of the Empire's remnants and crown herself Empress of the Sith. Despite the new external threat, both sides refused to officially end hostilities or discuss any sort of partnership. The earlier cooperation forged by Marr due to his reasonable leadership, though, would have a lasting legacy over the course of the decade, eventually paving way for members of the Empire to willingly join in an official alliance with Republic defectors against their common enemy. The defeat of the Eternal Empire and also the death of the Sith Emperor, paved a way for the Sith Empire to once again re-enter the fray and the Galactic Republic followed suit and the war had re-started. By around 2000 BBY, the Imperial government was either a shadow of its former self or absorbed by the Galactic Republic, which was now the dominant superpower in the Galaxy. Those who still clung to the old Sith ways ultimately followed Darth Ruin, who established a new Sith empire in its place. Onslaught against the Republic Great Galactic War : "Our time has come. For three hundred years, we prepared. We grew stronger. While you rested in your cradle of power, believing your people were safe and protected. You were trusted to lead the Republic but you were deceived, as our powers of the Dark Side have blinded you. You assumed no force could challenge you and now… finally, we have returned." : ―Sith Lord Darth Malgus during the Sacking of Coruscant Toward's the end of the Great Galactic War, the Sith Empire controlled half the galaxy. Despite the fact that the odds of victory were tipping into the Empire's favor, due to their large navies and various allies, Imperial forces were strained and spread thin. The Republic, on the other hand, was weakened, and gradually began consolidating its forces in the Inner Rim to defend the core worlds. Although the Empire had it within their power to destroy the Republic, the Sith Emperor had since grown impatient, having believed that victory would have already been achieved by this point. To that end, he opted to extend an olive branch to the Galactic Republic. This saw the Dark Council extending an offering of peace to the Republic, which was eagerly accepted, as they had since concluded that the war was practically unwinnable. The Empire thus dispatched a diplomat to the planet Alderaan in order to discuss a galaxy wide cease fire. While the people of the Republic, as well as Imperial isolationists and staunch supporters of the Emperor, were overjoyed upon hearing the news of peace, many of the more conservative dark lords, hawkish in ideology, were disgusted by the spontaneous situation, as they held the belief that war was the Sith way and that it was the only way to demonstrate true power. Two such Imperialists were Darth Angral and Darth Malgus, who firmly disagreed with the Emperor, the Dark Council, and Darth Baras, Angral's rival, who was handpicked by Vitiate himself to serve as the Imperial representative during treaty negotiations. Then two delegations met on the neutral world of Alderaan, where Empire and Republic were accompanied by both Sith lords and Jedi knights, and discussed what were initially believed to be reasonable terms of peace. At the Dark Council's orders, Darth Baras met directly with the Republic representatives, including Jedi Master Satele Shan, and negotiations seemingly got off to a smooth start. While negotiations commenced on Alderaan, the Sith, having been instructed by Emperor Vitiate himself, amassed what was almost the full strength of their fleet with the intent of capturing Coruscant and holding it hostage, which would give the Empire enough leverage and influence over the Republic to be able to get them to agree to terms that would be in their favor - ones deemed unreasonable under most circumstances. First dispatching a Sith vanguard commanded by Malgus with orders to attack the Jedi Temple, the Imperial fleet, under the command of Darth Angral, soon orbited Coruscant, causing massive destruction in an event that would become known as conducted the "Sacking of Coruscant". This saw the planet under siege as it was bombarded from orbit and invaded by ground troops, becoming an occupied world within a matter of hours. One of the casualties of this attack was the loss of the Jedi Temple and the capture of the Senate Tower thus allowing the Sith to hold the entire world hostage. Angral instated martial law on the devastated world, effectively oppressing its civilians, although occasional rioting did occur. Additionally, many government officials, including Supreme Chancellor Berooken, were executed by the Sith, further weakening any influence that the planetary government had left during the Sith occupation. The sacking and subsequent occupation of Coruscant forced the Republic diplomats on Alderaan to sign the Treaty of Coruscant, despite unfair terms for themselves. The terms of the treaty required that the Republic was to cede certain star systems over to the Empire, as well as abandon strategic worlds in buffer space. This would lead to the Empire quickly snatching them up, seeing as, even though the acquisition of those certain planets were not within the terms of the agreement, the Republic was far too weak to stop the increasing Imperial war machine. With entire star systems at the mercy of the Sith as far deep as the Inner Rim, the Republic scaled back on its previously aggressive stances as to not aggravate the growing Empire. In the aftermath, the Sith began to consolidate their power as galactic lines were drawn with now well over half the galaxy falling under the leadership of the Empire. The Cold War With the end of the Great Galactic War, an uneasy stalemate was formed between the Sith Empire and the Galactic Republic. The Treaty of Coruscant effectively resulted in further expansion of the Empire, which quickly overshadowed the strained Republic, thereby becoming the galaxy's prime superpower. Although at the time, the Emperor's motivation for signing the Treaty of Coruscant was unclear, specifically to those who were pro-war, it became clearer that the Empire's intention was to rebuild its dwindled forces to prepare for another war against the Republic, this time using the fact that they now controlled newly annexed strategic worlds that could be useful in the war effort. For nearly a decade, the Empire conducted espionage against the Republic, learning many of their secrets, with Imperial Intelligence becoming one of, if not the most, significant bureaucracy in the Empire. Although no official engagements occurred between both governments, a series of bloody proxy wars broke out across the galaxy on what were seen as being primarily contested worlds, such as Balmorra, Alderaan, and Ord Mantell. That aside, there were several instances in which elements from each faction engaged one another, although those were generally limited to small-scale skirmishes between independent operatives working alone, special forces, Jedi, and Sith. Despite the hostility between both factions, there was limited cooperation between several leaders on both sides, which often led to uneasy collaboration on rare circumstances. One such example was a combined effort to stop a droid army from unleashing a contagion on the galaxy, upon which they launched an orbital invasion on the remote world of Sebaddon. Although the brief and fatal alliance fell apart in the end, also resulting in the death of Sith commander Darth Chratis, it would not be the last collaboration between the two nations. Following the treaty, the Emperor gradually became more and more reclusive, eventually turning over complete political control of the Empire to the Dark Council. By 3643 BBY, the Dark Council concluded that the best way to weaken the Republic before reconstituting the war would be to eradicate Republic military leadership, which would cripple the command structure. Falling upon Darth Vengean, leader of the Imperial military, to organize a strategy, the Sith lord devised Plan Zero, an elaborate series of operations designed to cripple Republic command. The goal was to neutralize six key military officials without drawing too much attention. Vengean assigned Darth Baras, his subordinate, to oversee the directive, who would manage it on an operational level. Baras, in turn, assigned his own underling to plan and carry out the assassinations, his former apprentice, a Sith warrior who'd later go on to become the second Emperor's Wrath. After Plan Zero succeeded, both Baras and the warrior turned on Vengean, resulting in the former gaining a spot on the Dark Council. As Plan Zero proceeded in its execution, the Republic itself began to grow wary of the Empire's rapid military buildup, as well as the mysterious deaths of some of their most important military leaders. Many members of the Galactic Senate felt that if the need arose that they would need more powerful troops, they would have to be able to train and mobilize them quickly if they were to stand a chance against the might of the Empire. In the meantime, the Sith Emperor, seeing that war was right around the corner, decided to renew conscription of further troops, leading many to believe that he was once more preparing to attack the Republic. The Dark Council, despite the various members continuing to retain their differences, was stronger than before. Led primarily by Darth Marr, Darth Thanaton, and Darth Baras, the Empire was finally in a position to attack the Galactic Republic. While not as brutal as the earlier war, the Cold War saw explosive skirmishes erupt around the various regions of space, thus beginning a new period of warfare in the galaxy as both sides vied for dominance. After barely over a decade of uneasy peace, a new conflict sparked, which became known in history as the "Galactic War". Renewed conflict "We are at war! The Dark Council has placed me in charge and battles are being waged across the galaxy." ―Darth Baras Battling the Republic Following the outbreak of war, the Empire, which, towards the beginning of the conflict, had an advantage on the Republic due to the eradication of Republic high command, carried out a series of invasions and operations that would better strengthen their hold on the galaxy. One of the first major victories occurred on the planet Taris, when Imperial forces set out to disrupt the Republic's recolonization effort, overseen by Governor Leontyne Saresh, who would later be elected Supreme Chancellor. While this initiative began during the latter days of the Cold War, the victory was finally assured at the dawn on the Galactic War, when the Imperials became the dominant force on the planet, thanks to the efforts of Darth Gravus. Although seen as a major victory, the Republic tried to continue their restoration efforts of the devastated planet, which had been bombed from orbit by Darth Malak three centuries earlier. Despite this however, the Sith occupation of the planet nearly halted their ability to effectively recolonize the world. As tensions tightened, Darth Angral formalized a plan that would ultimately involve the destruction of Tython, the Jedi homeworld. Using a superweapon known as the Desolator, the Sith lord attacked Tython, but was killed by a Jedi knight, putting a stop to his scheme. With his key rival out of the way, this gave Darth Baras more control over the ultimate war effort, leading to a further string of Sith victories. Despite several victories early in the conflict, the Empire suffered two devastating blows within the first year of the war, particularly on Taral V, which ultimately resulted in the Republic fleet, led by the Jedi Master and Fleet Admiral, Oteg, discovering the location of Maelstrom Prison. The Republic mounted a full-scale attack on the station, resulting not only in its destruction, but also the death of Grand Moff Rycus Kilran and the liberation of a prisoner: Revan. This proved to be one of the most humiliating and costly defeats of the early war. Revan proved to be a major threat to the Empire, as it was reported that he was planning on using the power of the Foundry, an ancient Rakatan factory, to create a droid army with the intention of carrying out a massive genocide against the Sith species. In retaliation, Imperial command dispatched a strike team to infiltrate the foundry after using a captured Republic warship to disguise their presence. As the strike team went after Revan within the Foundry itself, the Imperial Expeditionary Fleet engaged the Republic vessels guarding the Foundry. The fleet was ultimately annihilated and Revan was defeated, saving the Imperial population from near total destruction. During the Empire's discovery of the prison planet of Belsavis, An imperial strike team had entered the very depths of the prison to release the captured Dread Masters, fear-wielding Sith Lords who serve the Emperor, all the while the Empire sought to free their own captured forces as many as they could. The Imperial Guard were personally overseeing the invasion. Darth Baras, chief orchestrator of the entire Imperial war effort, led the Empire to a number of further victories against the Republic. Additionally, more battlefronts and theatres opened up throughout the Outer Rim. The worlds of Hoth and Belsavis became key flashpoints, with both sides vying control for those worlds for months. The defining battle of the first stages of the war occurred in 3641 BBY on Corellia. Undoubtedly the bloodiest and most devastating battle of the entire war, the world of Corellia was nearly wiped out by the Sith Empire. Commanded by Darth Decimus, Imperial forces launched a full-scale invasion of the planet, eventually occupying Coronet City. What forces were on the world were obliterated, along with many of Corellia's protectors, the Green Jedi. The Sith, now controlling the planet, engrained themselves in Corellian politics, vying to appoint the young politician Darbin Sull as Prime Minister, who was, in fact, a political pawn. The Republic began mobilizing its own troops to liberate the planet, in the meanwhile helping organize a resistance movement to combat the Sith occupation. Despite crippling the world, the Republic regained the advantage once they had arrived, which resulted in the death of Darth Decimus. Although this was a turning point in the battle, the Empire remained on Corellia, continuing to fight the Republic. Across the galaxy, the war continued to escalate, and, since they were nearly evenly matched, both Empire and Republic seemed to be locked in a war that could last for years. Fragmentation The Sith Empire had renewed its war with the Galactic Republic. During this war, many Sith sought power within the Empire and began infighting among themselves. Darth Baras, having recently, ascended to the Dark Council, claimed that he was the Voice of the Emperor, host of the Sith Emperor's spirit, and had in fact trapped the real Voice on Voss. Baras was nearly successful but fellow Dark Council member Darth Vowrawn did not believe him and so Baras tried to kill him. The Sith Emperor declared Baras' former apprentice his new Wrath and put him on the path to destroy Baras. The Wrath saved Vowrawn and with latter's help defeated Baras in sight of the Dark Council and was officially declared as the Emperor's Wrath and now the Dark Council acknowledged it and soon passed the information to the rest of the Empire. Darth Thanaton, another Dark Council member, was facing a similar dilemma from Lord Kallig, descendant of Alloysius Kallig. Sometime after Baras' coup, Darth Thananton had declared a Kaggath against Kallig but he later fled in order to seek assistance from the Dark Council. The Dark Council was astonished that one of its own members was incapable of defeating a mere Lord so they decided to let Kallig challenge Thanaton. Darth Thanaton was defeated by Kallig and Darth Mortis of the Dark Council executed Thanaton. Darth Marr and the rest of the Dark Council gave Thanaton's seat to Kallig and was named Darth Nox. The Sith Empire is Similar to the Galactic Empire. KOTOR Military Arsenal Personnel * Sith trooper * Sith officers * Sith Acolytes * Sith assassin * Sith Lords Droids * Mark IV assault droid * Sentinel droid Space Ships * Sith fighters * Herald-class shuttle * KT-400 military droid carriers * Derriphan-class battleships * Centurion-class battlecruisers * Interdictor-class cruisers SWTOR Military Arsenal Personnel * Imperial heavy infantry soldier * Imperial Grenadier *Imperial Commando *The Imperial Guard *Sith Acolyte Droids ''' *Imperial Soldier *Imperial Assault droid *DK-27 Guarding Droid *Sith war droid Mark I *C-RD4 Protocol Droid *C-06X Battle droid *ISS-7 Guardian Battledroid '''Vehicles *KX-7 Recon Walker *Rapid Recon Walker *RSS Imperial Walker *Imperial siege tank *Behemoth Space Ships * Mark VI Supremacy-class star fighter * B28 Extinction-class bombers * Imperial Gunship * B-4D Legion * Fury-class Imperial Interceptor * Imperial Shuttle * Imperial Troop Transport * Imperial Military Transport * Imperial assault shuttle * Gage-class transport * Centurion-class battle cruiser * Terminus-class destroyer * Harrower-class dreadnought * Space Station Sith_Pureblood_and_Sith_Troopers.png|Sith ImperialAgent-SWTOR.png|Imperial Agent SithTrooper-TOR.jpg|Sith Trooper Sith invasion.jpg|Sith Empire Imperial Guard.png|Imperial Guard Swtor-red-guard.jpg|Imperial Guard sith-acolyte.jpg|Sith Acolyte SithWarDroidMk1-TOR.jpg|Sith war droid Mark I sith-war-droid-mark-ii.jpg|Sith war droid Mark II DK-27_Guardian_Droid.png|DK-27 Guardian Droid KX-7 Command Walker.png|KX-7 Command Walker Imperial Walker.jpg|Imperial Walker Sith Behemoth.png|Sith Behemoth Sith_fighter.jpg|Sith fighter (kotor) S-12 Blackbolt.png|S-12 Blackbolt B-5 Decimus.png|B-5 Decimus B-4D Legion.png|B-4D Legion M-7 Razorwire.png|M-7 Razorwire Bomber Imperial_bomber.png|M-7 Razorwire Bomber TZ-24 Enforcer.png|TZ-24 Enforcer sith_imperial_troop_transport_ortho__2__new__by_unusualsuspex-dantcf5.jpg|Sith Imperial Troop Transport Imperial Assault shuttle.jpg|Imperial Assault shuttle Sith Imperial Military Transport.jpg|Sith Imperial Military Transport Fury-class Imperial interceptor.png|Fury-class Imperial interceptor Onslaught_of_the_Sith_Empire.jpg|Sith Interceptors X-70B Phantom-class prototype.jpg|X-70B Phantom-class prototype centurion_class_battlecruiser_ortho__new__by_unusualsuspex-d9f2b52.jpg|Centurion-Class Battlecruiser Marr_ship.png|Gage-class transport H6cLLrK.jpg|Harrower-class dreadnought harrower_class_dreadnought_by_clark31470-d8xw5s7.jpg|Harrower-class dreadnought Kotor_interdictor-class cruiser.jpg|Interdictor-class cruiser Leviathan_Ebon_Hawk.png Capital_Bombarded.jpg Emperor's_Fortress.png Category:Star Wars Category:Factions